Scholars who doubt Jesus’ existence follow standard conspiracy theory procedure
Was Jesus a historical myth or mythic history? The traditional view among skeptics is that a man named Jesus appeared in the early first century, became the central figure of a religious cult, and was executed for insurrection, after which His followers spread the rumor that He had come back to life. The “historical Jesus,” according to this theory, was the victim as much as the inspiration of a great hoax.
Lately, though, some scholars are becoming more vocal about their belief that no such person walked the earth. “5 reasons to suspect Jesus never existed” appeared in Salon last month, highlighting their work. The writer of the article boils the argument down to five main reasons: (1) the lack of contemporary secular references to Jesus, (2) the puzzling failure of the earliest Christian writers (such as Paul and Peter) to mention any details of His early life, like His virgin birth, (3) the...